Northwest plans to retire its remaining fleet of 17 DC-10-40s by the end of the third quarter. In a message to employees, CEO Richard Anderson said the airline is "continuing to closely manage our capacity as we go forward." He reported that most of the widebody DC-10s are being replaced with smaller Boeing 757-200s and 757-300s. Northwest originally planned to operate the DC-10s "a bit longer, but given the environment, we thought it prudent to go ahead and retire those at the end of the summer season." Most of the DC-10-40s were delivered between 1972 and 1974.
Deputy Undersecretary TSA's executive in charge of airports, Associate Deputy Undersecretary Kevin Houlihan, is on leave, and Mike Robinson has been named to take over as acting associate deputy undersecretary, a TSA spokesman said. The position reports to TSA chief John Magaw. TSA Deputy Undersecretary Stephen McHale said at a recent airports conference that Houlihan is hiring a half-dozen deputies to whom the federal security directors (FSDs) would report.
Air Jamaica plans to boost its scheduled service from Boston to Montego Bay from five flights a week to daily frequencies, starting June 20. The route was launched in February 2001.
Long-time FAA executives Alan Moore and Steve Zaidman announced plans to retire in the next few months. Moore, director of airway facilities, has been with the agency, and Airway Facilities, since 1974; he will retire in June. Zaidman, associate administrator for research and acquisitions, has been with FAA for about three decades, and plans to leave the agency next month.
Narita Airport Authority (NAA) has received a total of 1,120 applications from airlines wanting to use the facility's new second runway for flights during peak-hour operations. The number far exceeds the runway's capacity of 882 flights a week during the said period. The DAILY has learned that NAA will approve only 860 flights. A decision is expected soon. The number of applications received represents 97% of the handling capacity, far exceeding the pessimistic projections after the global airline industry took a dive following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Frontier last week announced new service between Denver and Boise, Idaho, and Tampa, starting June 24. The carrier will operate two daily nonstop flights to Boise and one to Tampa.
Flexjet, Bombardier's fractional aircraft program, is not yet turning a profit, CEO Robert Brown confirmed last week during a discussion of the parent company's financial performance last year. He said Bombardier makes its money on the margins when the Flexjet aircraft are sold to customers. He added, "We hope to be close to breakeven on operations this year."
British Airways is planning to retime its daily supersonic Concorde service from New York Kennedy to London. Starting April 1, BA Flight 002 will depart at 8:30 a.m. and arrive at 5:25 p.m. local time. The change will allow passengers to connect to most night European flights and long-haul departures to the Far East, Africa and the Middle East. Since the relaunch of Concorde service last November, the daily flight had departed at 12:15 p.m. using the same aircraft that had arrived at JFK earlier the same morning.
Innovative Solutions International will lead a team doing a feasibility study for Colombia's future Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) system. The team will work closely with Unidad Administrativa Especial de Aeronautica Civil (UAEAC) to come up with a detailed plan for getting the system funded and installed in 10-15 years. Team members include Diversified International Sciences Corp. (DISC), Design, Operations, Requirements and Strategies International (DORS), and Colombian consultants ANCLA Ltda. U.S.
Delta CEO Leo Mullin's salary was cut by nearly $200,000 last year after he decided not to take a paycheck from Oct. 1 through the end of they year. Despite the fourth quarter pay cut, however, Mullin received a salary of $596,250 for the year and received no bonus, according to its annual proxy filing. For the airline's fiscal year ended June 30, 2000, Mullin was paid $745,833 with a $1.4 million bonus. President Fred Reid last year was paid more than Mullin, taking home $655,000 with no bonus.
Atlantic Southeast flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, have ratified a one-year contract extension by a 71.6% vote. The current contract becomes amendable in September 2003.
Attorneys for the Raleigh/Durham Airport Authority are looking at Midway Airlines' claim that its passenger numbers are proprietary information. Airport Director John Brantley said the airline "at first refused to provide [passenger] numbers for February, then put in a disclaimer that they...could not be released." Midway provided passenger statistics "and every other information needed by the airport" for the past seven years, Brantley said.
Investigators could not determine why a Horizon Dash 8 Q400 hydraulic line failed, forcing the crew to extend the plane's gear manually at the end of a flight from Seattle to Boise, Idaho, March 1, an NTSB brief said. A line to the elevator was fingered as the problem, and the plane's No. 2 hydraulic system lost pressure as a result. The pilots landed the plane without incident, but it had to be towed from the runway because the system failure knocked out its nose wheel steering.
Under the open-skies agreement signed between the U.S. and Peru, Lima-based AeroContinente will carry passengers to and from the U.S. and beyond, starting with the new Lima-Guayaquil-Miami service that began in March, to be operated initially three times a week with 213-passenger Boeing 767-200s. This trunk route will pave the way for passenger and cargo expansion in the countries of the Andean Pact and Mercosur in South America as both groups implement economic integration.
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum is expected to announce next month that construction of its new facility at Washington Dulles Airport is well ahead of schedule.
FAA yesterday ordered modifications to prevent "erroneous altitude reporting" of Rockwell Collins TDR-94 and TDR-94D Mode S transponders that get altitude information from a Gillham encoded pressure altitude source. Affected aircraft must be modified at the next transponder check or by Feb. 3, 2003, whichever comes first. Fixes are outlined in several Rockwell Collins service bulletins issued since 1999. Some 1,400 U.S.-registered ATR 42s/72s, de Havilland Dash 7s, and Shorts 330s/360 could have the error-prone transponders
FAA will take public comments through June 20 on long-term plans to allocate capacity at New York LaGuardia. The agency also is seeking comments on how several recent developments, such as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's rate increase for the three New York-area airports and the increased number of regional jet flights at LaGuardia since Sept. 11, might affect proposed plans. Comments can be filed at http://dms.dot.gov under docket No. FAA-2001-9854.
US Airways Express carrier Shuttle America is leasing 18 Saab 340As from Saab Aircraft Leasing, nine for immediate operation and nine to place into service this year. The 340As, on three- and four-year leases, replace Bombardier Dash 8s and contribute to the carrier's expansion.
Air Europe plans to drop its $69 million lawsuit against Iberia after the two reached an agreement on the return of some leased aircraft. Under the deal, Iberia will return six aircraft it leased from Air Europa that it decided to retire as it cut capacity last fall. "This agreement will allow Air Europa to meet its commitments and Iberia to meet its cost-cutting targets," the airlines said in a joint statement.
America West yesterday revamped its fare structure by eliminating the Saturday night stay requirement and including new reduced one-way fares. The airline believes that the new pricing structure will result in significant reductions to current, unrestricted walkup fares. The change comes after CEO Doug Parker told employees recently that one of the keys to the future of the airline is its ability "to price intelligently." Parker said in a letter to staff that the new structure would increase the airline's revenues.
Japan has indicated it will permit the return to FedEx of slots being used by Delta, defusing a bilateral dispute. In response, DOT is deferring the requirement that eight Japanese all-cargo carriers would have to file their schedules for reconsideration by the U.S. DOT imposed the requirement last week with a March 22 deadline in response to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation's resistance to Delta's move, which DOT maintains is permitted by the 1998 U.S.-Japan bilateral.
Delta CEO Leo Mullin has no near-term plans to spin off the carrier's regional subsidiaries or launch an initial public offering of Comair or Atlantic Southeast to raise additional funds. "We're happy with the current arrangement," Mullin told The DAILY in Washington. While other major airlines, such as Northwest and Continental, recently filed IPOs for their regional airlines, Mullin said Delta operates more efficiently with the current centralized planning of its mainline and regional route network.
